Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 13: The long-standing ties between the AIADMK and the BJP in Tamil Nadu is under cloud with the former serving an ultimatum to the saffron party to rein in its state unit chief while the BJP so far has showed no inclination to reprimand the guilty even under the threat of severing relations.
Miffed by the state BJP chief K Annamalai’s tacit indication that Tamil Nadu Opposition party AIADMK icon and former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was convicted in a disproportionate assets case, the AIADMK which on Monday had threatened to review ties with ally BJP if Annamalai was not asked to resign, on Tuesday passed a resolution calling the state BJP chief “inexperienced, irresponsible, and motivated.”
Annamalai’s interview on Jayalalithaa has hurt AIADMK cadre, the resolution said, pointing out that the iconic leader was instrumental in helping the BJP come to power for the first time in 1998. A meeting of AIADMK district secretaries started earlier this morning amid friction with ally BJP. Though the meeting was called to discuss new membership enrolment, it ended up slamming K Annamalai.
But the state BJP instead of showing any understanding hit back at the senior AIADMK leader D Jayakumar for threatening to review the alliance, saying, “There can be no big brother in alliance.” “Annamalai is not qualified to be a state president of a party. He should mind his words. We suspect he doesn’t want the alliance to continue nor does he want Prime Minister Modi to win again,” D Jayakumar had said. Annamalai, who divides his time equally between needling the DMK and AIADMK, has made a comment the ally finds it hard to overlook.
Although Jayalalithaa’s aide VK Sasikala and a few others were ultimately convicted by the Supreme Court in a disproportionate assets case in which the former Chief Minister was the prime accused, Jayalalithaa died before the final verdict. So while the top court’s verdict nullified the favourable verdict by the Karnataka High Court, it did not convict her technically.
Addressing reporters after the conclusion of the meeting of district secretaries at the party headquarters in Chennai, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami read out the resolution in which he noted that Annamalai gave an interview to a leading English daily “intentionally” defaming Jayalalithaa. He added that it deeply hurt the sentiments of AIADMK cadres and the public.
“Amma served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for 16 years and brought many schemes for the welfare of the public and inspired other states to implement them. Without any political experience or maturity, BJP leader Annamalai has passed such comments intentionally (against Jayalalithaa) with a motive and the AIADMK strongly condemns it,” he said.
AIADMK leaders and party workers have been criticising Annamalai after he indirectly accused her of being corrupt during the interview. Edappadi said national leaders including former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani had great respect towards “Amma” (Jayalalithaa) and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi met her at her residence. The AIADMK leader added that it was due to the party’s support that the BJP was able to assume power at the Centre in 1998. The BJP also has four MLAs in the state Assembly now due to the AIADMK’s support.
AIADMK cadres had gathered in large numbers for Tuesday’s meeting. Women supporters of the state’s main Opposition party said that if Annamalai spoke against “Amma” again, they would not hesitate to lay siege to his residence.
After former Tamil Nadu minister and senior AIADMK leader D Jayakumar came down heavily on Annamalai on Tuesday, other leaders including C Ve Shanmugam and Pollachi Jayaraman also criticised him. Jayaraman said “no one has the right to comment on Amma” and the party high command will take a call on future ties with the BJP in the wake of Annamalai’s remarks.
Shanmugam added that if Annamalai did not wish to associate with the AIADMK, he could opt out of the alliance. “Annamalai has no quality to talk about Amma. All top national leaders including the current Prime Minister went all the way to Poes Garden to seek support. Amma never went behind them,” Shanmugam said.
On Monday, the Puducherry AIADMK cadres carrying party flags raised slogans against Annamalai and said they will urge the party’s high command to reconsider the alliance with BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Tamil Nadu BJP vice-president Karu Nagarajan also issued a statement on Monday condemning AIADMK’s Jayakumar for speaking ill about Annamalai without understanding the full context of his remarks. He said Annamalai did not enter politics for power or position but for public welfare. “Our leader has been raising his voice against corruption since day one. He is focused on setting the system right for the welfare of Tamil Nadu and people here know that he speaks directly from the heart. Jayakumar is sawing off the branch he is sitting on. You are only going to get affected by these remarks,” Nagarajan said.
Responding to the development, BJP state Vice President Narayanan Thirupati said on Tuesday, “Annamalai has his right to say.” On the future of alliance he added, “time will tell, we have nearly a year for polls.” The actions of the state BJP chief often raises doubts in the AIADMK camp whether the former IPS officer is acting as the mouthpiece of the party’s central leadership.
In March, he had spoken against allying with the AIADMK for the 2024 election, leaving senior AIADMK leaders, who formed the long-awaited alliance with the BJP after Jayalalithaa’s death, fuming. Jayalalithaa had not forged an alliance with the BJP for a long time despite friendly ties, considering the northern party a misfit in Dravidian politics.
Now, with the alliance under its belt, the BJP, which had negligible presence in the state, is attempting to project itself as the key opposition, capitalising on the tussle between AIADMK’s O Panneerselvam and Edappadi Palaniswami, who had given green signal to the alliance.
The AIADMK had also suffered four consecutive defeats in elections it fought with the BJP — including Lok Sabha polls, assembly polls and local body polls. With the BJP is being seen in the southern state as an electoral liability, both parties did not even campaign together ahead of the recent Erode East by-poll, which the AIADMK lost.
Many say in an internal meet on Sunday, BJP chief strategist Amit Shah had set his party a target of 25 MP seats in the state, setting off suspicion in the AIADMK camp that the national party intends to contest 25 of the state’s 39 seats.
In a similar development, ahead of the Opposition meet in Patna on June 23, former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s son Santosh Suman, on Tuesday resigned from the Bihar Cabinet of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Suman was looking after the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Welfare Department and his resignation is seen a big setback for Kumar.
Though Suman said his party Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (HAM(S) will remain a part of the “Mahagathbandhan” of the JD(U), RJD and the Congress, he cited “pressure” the reason for his resignation from the Bihar cabinet. “There was a lot of pressure and we were continuously asked to merge our party in JD(U) and this offer was not acceptable to our leadership. The existence of my party was under threat so instead of merging, we thought of resigning from the Cabinet. We have struggled a lot form the party and there was no possibility of merging it.”
Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) supremo Jitan Ram Manjhi has earlier demanded five Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming 2024 election. Manjhi was also disappointed over not getting the invitation to attend the scheduled Opposition meet in Patna. At present, Mr. Manjhi’s HAM(S) has four MLAs in Bihar Legislative Assembly and one MLC in Bihar legislative Council. Last year when Kumar had broken the alliance with BJP, Mr. Manjhi had given unconditional support to the Mahagathbandhan.
The political move of Manjhi is seen as a big offer from the BJP which has forced him to take this bold step. In the month of April Manjhi along with his son had met Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah in Delhi.
Mr. Manjhi is a known ‘party hopper’ but at the same time he is an important Dalit face. He had recently said his son would be a better CM candidate than many in contention, in a veiled reference to speculation about RJD leader and Deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav being groomed as Kumar’s successor.
